Last Game - in the Rain (not cancelled)!

It was an unsure day as the rain came down but the games were not cancelled.  Fortunate for the few who came out to play, they got their last playing time on the field.  Since about half the team showed up and the other team did not, the Fireballs that were present played against the parents!

Tough way to end the season with so many missing, but we don't make the rules!  Thanks for a great season Fireballs!

Team Party

Thanks to everyone for their contribution to the team party food and gifts for the coaches!  The kids were fun to play with and we will miss them!

Game 9 vs. Surf Monkeys

Today turned out to be the last "dry" game for our little Fireballs who took on the Surf Monkeys.  We fought hard for the ball but didn't get too many balls into our goal.  We worked hard to try to stop the Surf Monkeys from getting a goal, at times there seemed to be a wall of Fireballs in front of their goal.  A couple of our players were even taken down from behind but still managed to get back up and kept on playing!  We are so proud of our Fireballs, especially with all the improvements made since the beginning of the season.  A special appreciation goes to the Barney family who took care of our team banner every game of the season!  Although this may be the last time for most of our players to play together, since it splits into gender divisions after Micro, it's been a complete joy and honor to coach and watch this group of kids.  Hope to see you out on the field next year!

Game 8 vs. Black Dragons

Another challenging game for our Fireballs as we fought off the "Monkey" attack of the Black Dragons.  If we weren't chasing him and trying to stop him from scoring, he was blocking our players from making a goal.  Fortunately even "Monkey" had to take a break and our Fireballs got a few into the goal.  We are near the end of the season and it's such a joy to see the kids get into the game with more intensity.  They are much better at knowing which direction we are going and more players are coming back to try to play defense.  You can see the improvements in each player!  Entertaining moment of the game was seeing Trevor "fly" around the whole field... no where near the ball, but he ran HARD!

Game 7 vs. The Woodstocks

Our Fireballs had a tough time getting through the players on the Woodstocks team today.  It seemed like we were playing mostly defense. Our Fireballs fought hard to try to get the ball away from the Woodstocks and attempt to score but the Woodstocks were relentless.  Fortunately either we wore them down or the Woodstock Coach gave us a break (distracted his players) and we were finally able to score some goals in the last quarter.  We had two more players on our team score goals for the first time!  A goal is a goal... especially when it's a first for a player!

Game 6 vs.Green Sharks

It was a challenging day on the field for our Fireballs.  Although the other team only had 6 players, they had some bigger sized kids on their team that made it much more difficult for our Fireballs to score.  Although we were only able to get one goal in the net, our Fireballs fought hard to get the ball to our goal.  There were moments on the field where the ball didn't seem to move because there were about 8 pairs of legs trying to get it through the other legs.  A few sign of improvements: more of our players were running back on defense to stop the other team from scoring; they were calling for the ball on throw ins and goal kids; and even though there was a wall of opponents to try to get the ball past, our players stuck to it and kept trying to get the ball to our goal!

Game 5 vs. Green Beetle Bugs

Today's match up against the Green Beetle Bugs started off with their team only having 5 players.  We were fortunate to have all 9 of our players present again.  Our Fireballs scored more than a handful of goals from which 4 different players contributed, a new record for our team.  The Green Beetle Bugs had a few players who made it challenging for our Fireballs, which made it a close match up and a fun game to watch and cheer!

Game 4 vs. Purple Pirates

This was our first game with all 9 players present.  The Purple Pirates had no chance against our Fireballs as our kids dominated on the field.  We even split up the team with boys and girls (with a constant boy defender ;-) and our Fireballs still lit up the goal!  As a sign of our good sportsmanship, Coach Leon even attempted to distract our players to help the Purple Pirates have the field to themselves so that they could score!  What a fun day for our kids as they were not pressured much by their opponents!

Game 3 vs. Blue Sharks

Even though we didn't have much luck with many goals in the net, the kids still tried their best, especially in the heat.  We had a couple of close ones that just brushed by the goal but they were definitely trying their best.  Probably didn't help that the Blue Sharks had a whole second team that would rotate into the games.  We saw some great hustle by some of our players who ran all the way from one end of the field to the other to try to stop our opponents from scoring.  Fortunately we have an early morning game next week and the heat won't be too much of a factor.

Game 2 vs. Silver Dragons

What a fun and exciting game we had AGAIN!  The kids faced off against the Silver Dragons who had a fierce player on their team who could score and handle the ball well.  Our Fireballs did an awesome job of holding our own with first time goals from two of our players.  A couple of our kids also did an outstanding job dribbling down the field to our goal, to missed the goal by just inches!  But we didn't stop there, we also played some great defense by protecting our goal and stopping the other team from scoring by kicking the ball away!  Great job Fireballs!

First game of the season!

Our little Fireballs kicked off their 1st game of the season!  With just 8 players, they managed to score a handful of goals and they even stopped a few goals from the opposing Sand Storm!  Some may have been a little shy at the beginning but by the end of the game, they were all kicking and running and having fun!

Practice makes perfect...

The kids playing hard... getting ready for our first game this Saturday!